The Haunted Part 3
by E.M.R. Harrison
Summary: Part 3 of The Haunted


The Haunted: Part 3

Peter and I had alighted on the roof of his apartment building in New York city a few hours later. The sun had fully set as we approached his apartment. I hadn't wanted to go, but he hadn't left me much of a choice. The air was still and silent as we sat on either end of the couch each trying to ignore the other's presence. Needless to say it had become a long drawn out day.

Around sunset Peter decided to call it a night and went to the other room for what I thought was going to be the remainder of the evening. However a few moments later he returned with his arms full of blankets, a pillow and what appeared to be pajamas. I arched a brow in his general direction as I saw the other toiletries he had laid on top of the pile. He set it down on the arm of the couch and nodded towards a door behind us.

"That's the bathroom if you want to shower and maybe shave." he said looking down at the razor and shaving cream on top of the pile.

"I kind of like the roughneck look, but thanks." I said with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. "I stay in motels, Peter, not the streets." I added dryly.

Peter shrugged it off in a nonchalant manner. "Well, the option is there." he said with a glance to my greasy hair.

I shook my head and looked away towards the window as the stars began to make themselves known. I stood up and walked towards it looking out over the city of New York. It had been awhile since I had come here. I tried to avoid the place as much as I could, and since I got the ability to fly I've found myself traveling a lot more often. I looked away from the window towards the pile on the arm of the couch.

Peter had already left the living room and was in his own bed thankfully. The tension in the air had been so thick you could have cut it with a knife. I hated having to be here now, waiting for the apparition of one of my victims to show his ugly face, but what choice did I really have. If he had in fact come to communicate with me from beyond the grave, maybe Peter was right, maybe it was something important. But what it could be was beyond my own comprehension.

I let out an exasperated sigh and made my way to the pile. I guess I could at least take advantage of a shower, that might actually help me to sleep. Sleep, ha, it was the last thing I wanted to do after last night, but the sooner I got it over with the better I'd be able to sleep at night.

I made my way to the bathroom, making sure that I locked the door behind me, and undressed in front of the mirror. I checked my neck to be sure there was nothing there before laughing in realization that even if there had been, they would have healed in a matter of moments anyway. I shook my head realizing that I was starting to act like Peter.

I finished undressing and climbed into the shower allowing the warm water to caress my naked body, enjoying the moment. It was relaxing to say the least. I washed my body and got out of the shower, drying my hair before sliding on the pajama pants Peter had brought me.

I didn't know what to do with my dirty clothes so I left them on the hamper before heading back into the living room and the couch that suddenly looked like a torture chamber to me. I forced myself to relax by telling myself that there was no guarantee I would even see corpse Nathan tonight anyway.

I laughed slightly to myself and walked over to the couch. The blanket that had been on the arm of the couch was now on the floor beside it. I looked up towards Peter's bedroom and knew that he was still there, now snoring loudly. I bent down and picked up the blanket feeling the softness of it between my fingers. A sound rose from behind me and I turned swiftly to face the window.

I dropped the blanket and felt it hit my feet as I stood there frozen on the spot. I could feel my breath catch in my throat as my heart rate began to quicken. I knew this time that I was not asleep, but Nathan was standing there leaned against the wall by the window. He smiled at me from the side of his mouth and I felt my knees give out.

As my body hit the couch barely avoiding hitting the floor instead Nathan stepped out of the shadows of the window's drawn curtains. He looked different then he had the night before, in my dreams, but not like the Nathan I had known before.

"You look surprised to see me Sylar. After all isn't that why you came?" Nathan said articulately.

My mouth was open but I couldn't quite form the words I wanted to say. What would I say? So many thoughts were racing through my head right now I doubted that I could even make any sense of anything anyway. Instead I just stared at Nathan, taking in his new appearance.

His skin was no longer pallid but had a slight flush to it. His hair was now neatly combed and hanging off of his shoulders in such a fluid manner that I couldn't help but to think that it was extremely beautiful, for a man. His arms were crossed over his chest so I could not see his nails. But his eyes, were no longer light brown like they had been before. No, now they were a blue so bright that even the sky would be jealous of them. His clothes now fit him well, and it was odd to see him in something other then a suit of some sort. The black shirt was worn tight against what I could see was now a more muscular frame then he had even had before his death. What had happened to him?

"You're probably wondering how I'm here, more then you are as to why." Nathan stated. It wasn't a question.

I nodded unable to voice my thoughts aloud. I swallowed finally prying my eyes away from Nathan to look towards Peter's bedroom door. He was still snoring soundly inside of there. Nathan moved out of the corner of my eye and I leaped up from the couch moving away from it as he approached it.

Nathan stopped moving and smiled at me not even showing his teeth as he normally would have before. Was he hiding something under that smile of his? A fresh pair of razor sharp canines? As if he had been reading my thoughts his smile broadened and I saw the perfectly flat white teeth below. Was he reading my mind too?

"Relax Gabriel, I'm not here to kill you." he said before sitting down on the couch. He patted the empty spot beside him looking up at me like a father would look up at their son when they were about to give him 'the talk.'

I swallowed the lump in my throat and sat on the far end of the couch. I kept my butt half off of it in case I wanted to make a quick getaway. I glanced up at the arm that was now resting on the back of the couch and saw that he did in deed still have the razor sharp nails.

"I wanted to apologize for last night. I wasn't myself. The first time is always hard for us." Nathan said removing his hand from the back of the couch and examining his nails.

"Excuse me?" I uttered.

Nathan looked up at me with a look almost comparative to a scowl. He lifted his chin so that appearance would change and threw a smile in my direction. "I see that you finally found your voice." he said in response.

"What are you?" I managed suddenly feeling parched.

Nathan looked up at the ceiling as though he were trying to snatch the answer out of the air. "I don't think we really have a name for it yet, but I am like you, in a way." he said looking at me when he said the word you.

I lifted a brow in confusion. "Like me?" I asked.

"Yes, Gabriel, like you. As in I can't die." he said.

I felt air escape my lungs reminding me that I had been holding it. So if he couldn't die, then that meant I really wasn't dreaming last night, or was I? What happened then? Then it hit me like it had in the bathroom. I could heal, which meant I most likely lost consciousness healed then woke, so…

"You laid me on my bed to make me think I had been dreaming." I thought out loud.

Nathan nodded confirming my assumption. "I did. I figured that you wouldn't have believed it anyway unless Peter told you about it, that's why I sent him to Vegas to find you. Like I said, I wasn't myself last night. It took me awhile to realize who I was, what had happened to me and what was going on. But I met someone, who explained something to me." Nathan said quietly.

I looked at him expectantly then around the room half expecting for said person to appear like he had. My thoughts were interrupted when Nathan spoke however.

"No, they're not here. Yet." he said, "And yes, I can read your mind." he added as I looked over at him. "For the most part."

I swore to myself, that was why he had attacked me last night, because I had thought him a meddlesome fool. My thoughts nearly cost me my life, and I hadn't even been aware of it.

"I wouldn't have killed you Gabriel. It would have been a bad idea, not to mention pointless." Nathan said.

"Pointless?" I repeated. "I killed you. Or so I thought." I added.

"Yes, and I thank you for that. Because I would have never found out about myself until I was old." Nathan said.

I shook my head in confusion. "I don't understand." I replied.

Nathan adjusted himself on the couch and turned to look at me. "What I am, we don't die. We stop aging the moment of our death and are, pretty much, reborn into something else entirely. What you see in front of you. I am beautiful am I not." he said with a cocky smile.

I shrugged meekly. "I guess so." I answered.

"For a guy of course." Nathan finished for me.

"Right. For a guy." I repeated looking away towards the window.

I heard Nathan laugh beside me, a deep magical laugh that I have never heard rise from another human's voice before. As if he was even human. I looked over at him and saw that the laugh was even showing in his eyes. The sky blue hues that could pierce a man's soul if he allowed it.

I looked away unable to hold the gaze with such fierce eyes. Nathan looked away as well no longer smiling. I could still see him out of the corner of my eye. I now knew a little as to how he was here, but still not the why. But other questions began to raise within my skull. Was Peter the same way? If he died now without regenerative powers, would he come back looking like this renewed Nathan.

Nathan read my mind again and answered the silent question. "Yes, Peter is like me. He would come back after some time with his powers fully intact and looking a bit different then is normal. And like me he would be weak at first, and full of confusion and anger." Nathan said.

"Would you stay out of my head." I murmured.

"I'm sorry Gabriel." Nathan said with a kind voice.

It was strange, sitting here beside a man I had believed to have killed, having him apologize to me. And he had thanked me for killing him. Peter had been right in assuming that Nathan was alive. Damn him and his boyish dreams.

"What is it that I so desperately needed to know?" I asked not looking at him.

Nathan turned to face me, the movement making me turn to him as well. "I've found someone you'd be interested in meeting." he said.

I found myself laughing. "What, are you trying to play matchmaker?" I asked jokingly, not sure of what he meant exactly.

Nathan shook his head, his hair flowing smoothly as if it were trained to follow the motion with a fluidly action like water in a stream. "No, more like reuniting two people."

I tilted my head in confusion. "You said someone I should meet, not someone I had met." I corrected.

"You have met, but I'm sure you've repressed that part of your life." he said. "I can help you to remember." he added scooting closer to me.

I scooted back to the arm of the couch in a vain attempt to get further away from Nathan. He looked at me with a look that plainly said he didn't intend to harm me. He scooted closer until he was within arms reach and lifted a hand to my head. "Close your eyes, this will only take a few minutes." he said.

I complied, and as I did, I felt his warm hand touch the sides of my face and I jerked reflexively at the sudden contact. It wasn't like the night before when his hands had been as cold as ice. They were warm now, more like a humans. My thoughts drifted away from me as I saw images of my past flash before my eyes. All the way back to when I was just a small boy, before I was sold.

To be Continued….


End file.
